{"id":4761,"date":"2013-02-06T10:50:45","date_gmt":"2013-02-06T10:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/?p=4761"},"modified":"2013-02-08T17:05:39","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T17:05:39","slug":"the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/","title":{"rendered":"The pursuit of Pinot finds value and variety"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you agreed to try something tasty in the alcoholic beverage line from the Czech Republic you would, in all probability, be expecting a frothing glass full of chilled bright amber-gold lager beer.\u00a0 Few of us, Czechs included, would expect to have a glass of wine thrust into our hand.\u00a0 But, in the wake of the Velvet Revolution and the return of the land to private ownership, a surprising number of vineyards have been planted, most on quite a small scale but some with grander ambitions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Craig Stapleton is an ex-US Ambassador to Prague who saw the potential for wine making in the Czech Republic, and together with his brother Benjamin Stapleton, sought out Moravian winemaker Jaroslav Springer to form a partnership that could showcase that potential.\u00a0 So it was that in 2004 Stapleton & Springer was formed to grow vines around Bo\u0159etice, south of Brno. \u00a0Unusually, they have always concentrated on red wine and Pinot Noir in particular (which makes up 75% of their plantings) with the lofty inspiration of the fine wines of Burgundy.\u00a0 The vineyards are tended organically, and they keenly follow the practices of the Loire Valley’s biodynamic guru Nicolas Joly.\u00a0 The keen adherence to as natural a process as possible extends into the winery where sulphur dioxide usage is kept to the minimum.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The resulting wine is quite a revelation.\u00a0 Firm and muscular, but not heavy, with the supple texture of classic Pinot Noir, gripping plum-skin and deep ripe cherry fruit, good brisk acidity and a refreshing finish.\u00a0 It feels natural, you can see the allusion to Burgundy, it\u2019s tasty and charming and extraordinarily good value for money.<\/p>\n

Jaroslav Springer Pinot Noir 2009 Stapleton\u00a0& Springer<\/a> – \u00a315.95 per bottle (\u00a314.50 by the dozen)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Auvergne region of France is famous for its picture postcard verdant green extinct volcanoes, but not really for its wines.\u00a0 So, it came as quite a surprise that we could source a more than rather pleasant Pinot Noir from the heart of the region and sell it for a rather tempting price.\u00a0 Although the region sits on a similar line of latitude to Bordeaux and the Northern Rh\u00f4ne, the higher altitude tends toward a cooler climate and Pinot Noir can thrive. \u00a0La Cave Saint Verny, the local co-operative winery, is responsible for around 40% of the region\u2019s production.\u00a0 The oenologist Olivier Mignard has been in place since 1999 and works closely with the co-operative\u2019s members to ensure the best practice in the vineyard.\u00a0 As the average holding is so small \u2013 less than 2ha \u2013 most of the grapes are hand-picked.<\/p>\n

Charming, light Pinoty nose; light to medium palate, dry with pleasant cooked cherries, plum skins and burnt leather characters; and a nice clear finish. \u00a0Only about 5% of the cuv\u00e9e is wood aged, the rest retaining the charm of pure fruit.<\/p>\n

“This is, dear readers, the best sub-\u00a310 wine I have consumed this year. It\u2019s a Pinot Noir from the southern Loire region of the Auvergne. It comes from volcanic soils, at an altitude of 350-570 m, and the region sits on the 45th parallel, like the Rhone. Fresh and aromatic with sappy green notes, hints of herbs and ripe cherry fruit on the nose. The palate is elegant and textured with smooth, sappy red cherry fruit. Beautifully expressive and elegant. A pure, lighter-style red wine with no harsh edges. So drinkable.”
\nJamie Goode, www.wineanorak.com<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Puy de D\u00f4me 2010 Pinot Noir<\/a> – \u00a39.95 per bottle (\u00a38.95 by the dozen)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you agreed to try something tasty in the alcoholic beverage line from the Czech Republic you would, in all probability, be expecting a frothing glass full of chilled bright amber-gold lager beer.\u00a0 Few of us, Czechs included, would expect to have a glass of wine thrust into our hand.\u00a0 But, in the wake of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-france","category-pinot-noir"],"contentshake_article_id":"","yoast_head":"\nThe pursuit of Pinot finds value and variety<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you agreed to try something tasty in the alcoholic beverage line from the Czech Republic you would, in all probability, be expecting a frothing glass\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The pursuit of Pinot finds value and variety\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you agreed to try something tasty in the alcoholic beverage line from the Czech Republic you would, in all probability, be expecting a frothing glass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lea & Sandeman Wine Merchants | Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LeaandSandeman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-06T10:50:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-02-08T17:05:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog-2207a.kxcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Stapleton-Springer.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andrew Hooper\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@leaandsandeman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@leaandsandeman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andrew Hooper\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The pursuit of Pinot finds value and variety","description":"If you agreed to try something tasty in the alcoholic beverage line from the Czech Republic you would, in all probability, be expecting a frothing glass","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The pursuit of Pinot finds value and variety","og_description":"If you agreed to try something tasty in the alcoholic beverage line from the Czech Republic you would, in all probability, be expecting a frothing glass","og_url":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/","og_site_name":"Lea & Sandeman Wine Merchants | Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LeaandSandeman","article_published_time":"2013-02-06T10:50:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-02-08T17:05:39+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blog-2207a.kxcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Stapleton-Springer.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Andrew Hooper","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@leaandsandeman","twitter_site":"@leaandsandeman","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andrew Hooper","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/"},"author":{"name":"Andrew Hooper","@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5313a78106e8360176daafe29e3f0bbc"},"headline":"The pursuit of Pinot finds value and variety","datePublished":"2013-02-06T10:50:45+00:00","dateModified":"2013-02-08T17:05:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/"},"wordCount":586,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog-2207a.kxcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Stapleton-Springer.png","articleSection":["France","Pinot Noir"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/","url":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/","name":"The pursuit of Pinot finds value and variety","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog-2207a.kxcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Stapleton-Springer.png","datePublished":"2013-02-06T10:50:45+00:00","dateModified":"2013-02-08T17:05:39+00:00","description":"If you agreed to try something tasty in the alcoholic beverage line from the Czech Republic you would, in all probability, be expecting a frothing glass","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blog-2207a.kxcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Stapleton-Springer.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog-2207a.kxcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Stapleton-Springer.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-pursuit-of-pinot-finds-value-and-variety\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Europe","item":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/category\/europe\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"France","item":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/category\/europe\/france\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"The pursuit of Pinot finds value and variety"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"Lea & Sandeman Wine Merchants | Blog","description":"Award winning Independent Wine Merchants in London","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/#organization"},"alternateName":"L&S Wine Merchants","inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/#organization","name":"Lea & Sandeman","url":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blog-2207a.kxcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Ampersand.jpg?format=webp&quality=95&bg=ffffff","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog-2207a.kxcdn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Ampersand.jpg?format=webp&quality=95&bg=ffffff","width":714,"height":714,"caption":"Lea & Sandeman"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LeaandSandeman","https:\/\/x.com\/leaandsandeman","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/leaandsandeman","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/lea-&amp;-sandeman"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5313a78106e8360176daafe29e3f0bbc","name":"Andrew Hooper","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75ab9881cc40339a19245bfdea7b7be7412dc9f6f25bfb920d7a10becbf0a39d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75ab9881cc40339a19245bfdea7b7be7412dc9f6f25bfb920d7a10becbf0a39d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75ab9881cc40339a19245bfdea7b7be7412dc9f6f25bfb920d7a10becbf0a39d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Andrew Hooper"},"url":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/author\/alh\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4761"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4896,"href":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4761\/revisions\/4896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}